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Allegations of Abuse where the state is unclear

30 allegations

Complainant alleged that h/she was made to strip naked in front of two other individuals, then mocked and sexually harassed. (Complaint Received: 03/2007)

Complainants allege that they were raped while in ICE custody and that ICE officials did not take their complaints seriously. (Complaint Received: 04/2007)

In transit between two detention facilities, the officer in charge of making the transfer allegedly took the subject detainee to his/her residence and proceeded to have sex with him/her against his/her will. (Incident date: 09/2007)

Alabama

Facilities Unknown

3 allegations

Facilities Unknown

3 allegations

Examples of alleged incidents regarding this facility

Complainant alleged being repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted by other detainees in the facility. (Complaint Received: 03/2009)

Pinal County Adult Detention Center

16 allegations

Complainant alleged that two corrections officers informed other inmates that he/she is homosexual. Complainant alleedly now fears for his/her safety because h/she has been physically and sexually assaulted in the past because of his/her homosexuality (Complaint Received: 6/11/09)

El Centro Service Processing Center

17 allegations

Complainant alleged that he/she has been the victim of discrimination, emotional and physical abuse, and was raped twice while handcuffed by guards at this facility before transfer. (Complaint received 05/2007)

Illinois

McHenry County Adult Correctional Facility

4 allegations

McHenry County Adult Correctional FacilityTri-County Detention Center

Complainant alleged h/she was forced to shower and use the toilet in full view of many other detainees of the opposite sex and was groped by jail staff. (Complaint Received: 07/2010)

Complainant alleged that h/she was subjected to sexual, physical, and verbal abuse by detention officers as a result of transgender identity, including being inappropriately groped, denied HIV medication, and repeatedly taunted. (Complaint Received: 4/30/2010).

Tri-County Detention Center

4 allegations

McHenry County Adult Correctional FacilityTri-County Detention Center

2 allegations

Louisiana

LaSalle Detention Facility

2 allegations

LaSalle Detention FacilityOakdale Federal Detention Center

1 allegations

Examples of alleged incidents regarding this facility

Complainant alleged that h/she was forced to perform oral sex on a correctional officer while being held in a segregation cell. (Incident date: 03/2009)

Oakdale Federal Detention Center

2 allegations

LaSalle Detention FacilityOakdale Federal Detention Center

Massachusetts

Plymouth County Correctional Facility

2 allegations

Plymouth County Correctional FacilitySuffolk County House of Corrections (South Bay)

1 allegations

Examples of alleged incidents regarding this facility

Complainant alleged that on one occasion, h/she was stripped naked, sexually humiliated, and exposed to freezing cold and unsanitary conditions in solitary confinement. (Complaint received: 07/09/2007)

Suffolk County House of Corrections (South Bay)

2 allegations

Plymouth County Correctional FacilitySuffolk County House of Corrections (South Bay)

1 allegations

Examples of alleged incidents regarding this facility

Complainant alleged that an officer sexually assaulted him/her, then pulled down his/her pants in the cafeteria of the detention center and brought other detainees in to look at him/her. (Complaint received: 08/17/2010)

Maryland

Facility Unknown

1 allegations

Facility Unknown

1 allegations

Examples of alleged incidents regarding this facility

Complainant alleged the sexual assault of a detainee by and ICE agent during a raid in Annapolis. (Complaint Received: 06/2008).

Michigan

Calhoun County Correctional Center

1 allegations

Calhoun County Correctional Center

1 allegations

Examples of alleged incidents regarding this facility

Complainant alleged sexual harrassment by two deputies who suggested that the detainees should have sex with each other.(Complaint Received: 10/2008)

New Mexico

Otero County Processing Center

4 allegations

Otero County Processing Center

Complainant alleged that while aggressively being searched before boarding a bus, a corrections officer lifted her shirt to expose her breasts to 40 other male detainees. (Complaint Received: 03/2010)

Complainant alleges that h/she is being sexually assaulted and harassed by fellow detainees because of his/her sexual orientation. Officers in the facility allegedly have offered to put him/her in solitary confinement for "safety." (Complaint Received: 09/2010)

Nevada

North Las Vegas Detention Center

1 allegations

North Las Vegas Detention Center

1 allegations

Examples of alleged incidents regarding this facility

Complainant alleged that h/she was the victim of attempted sexual assault by a correctional officer. (04/30/2010)

Facilities Unknown

5 allegations

Orange County Correctional Facilityand others

Pennsylvania

Lackawanna County Prison

5 allegations

Lackawanna County PrisonPike County Correctional FacilityYork County Prison

1 allegations

Pike County Correctional Facility

5 allegations

Lackawanna County PrisonPike County Correctional FacilityYork County Prison

1 allegations

York County Prison

5 allegations

Lackawanna County PrisonPike County Correctional FacilityYork County Prison

3 allegations

Examples of alleged incidents regarding this facility

Complainant alleged that he had been subjected to physical and sexual abuse by a York County prison official who had twice struck him in the face and pulled down his pants, tugged on his genitals, and ordered him to say "uncle." (Complaint Received: 1/20/2010).

An ICE officer is alleged to have shoved a detainee against a wall and fondled him/her. (Complaint Received: 04/2008)

On more than one occasion, correctional officers allegedly requested a striptease dance from a detainee. These officers allegedly were aware that the detainee was formerly employeed as an exotic dancer at a local club. (Complaint Received: 11/2008)

Detainee alleged that h/she was raped, reported the incident, then was transferred to Port Isabel Service Processing Center, where h/she has since attempted suicide and was placed in isolation. (Complaint Received: 05/29/2007)

Complainant alleged that h/she was assaulted in the shower area, where h/she was forced to perform oral sex on an officer, dragged by his/her hair and then penetrated by the officer without a condom. (Complaint Received: 06/2009)

Complainant alleged that h/she had been in an ongoing sexual relationship with an ICE officer, who had at one time sexually assaulted him/her during his/her stay in medical center

Prison official employed by contractor allegedly had engaged in sexual intercourse with a detainee minor. (Report Received 4/1/2010)

Complainant alleged that h/she was forced to perform oral sex on a border patrol officer in exchange for being allowed to remain in Texas. (Complaint Received: 1/26/2010).

Virginia

Rappahannock Regional Facility

7 allegations

Rappahannock Regional FacilityHampton Roads Regional Jail

2 allegations

Examples of alleged incidents regarding this facility

Complainant alleged that h/she was repeatedly sexually harassed and assaulted by his/her cellmate, but his/her complaints were repeatedly ignored by officers in the detention facility. (Complaint Received: 06/2010)

Hampton Roads Regional Jail

7 allegations

Rappahannock Regional FacilityHampton Roads Regional Jail

5 allegations

Examples of alleged incidents regarding this facility

Complainant alleged that h/she was raped by unidentified fellow detainee. (Complaint Received 4/20/2010)

Complainant alleged that h/she was sexually assaulted by a fellow detainee wielding a knife, and was also physically attacked by a friend of the initial assailant. (Complaint Received: 10/26/2009).

Washington

Tacoma Northwest Detention Center

5 allegations

Tacoma Northwest Detention Centerand others

4 allegations

Examples of alleged incidents regarding this facility

Complainant alleged that h/she was repeatedly raped, assaulted, and harassed by the same individual at the facility. (Complaint Received: 04/2011)

Complainant alleged that he/she was sexually assaulted and beaten by a group of fellow detainees in the bathroom area of the facility, resulting in several injuries requiring medical attention. (Complaint Received: 5/24/2010).

Facilities Unknown

5 allegations

Tacoma Northwest Detention Centerand others

1 allegations

Examples of alleged incidents regarding this facility

Complainant alleged that fellow detainee had sexually harassed him, leading to a physical altercation between them. (Complaint Received 1/19/2011).

Wisconsin

Kenosha County Detention Center

1 allegations

Kenosha County Detention Center

1 allegations

Examples of alleged incidents regarding this facility

Complainant alleged that h/she was physically and sexually abused by inmates while detained. (Complaint received 12/2009)

In January 2011, the National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union filed a Freedom of Information Act request with several components of the United States Department of Homeland Security, including the Office of Inspector General, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, seeking all documents in their possession related to the sexual abuse of detainees in immigration detention facilities. While the information gleaned from the documents we have thus far received is surely just the tip of the iceberg, and while these documents generally describe allegations rather than proven incidents, the results summarized above nonetheless paint a very instructive picture about how widespread this problem is and how vulnerable to abuse immigration detainees can be.

The documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act request contain nearly 200 allegations of abuse in immigration detention facilities across the nation. And given that sexual abuse is a problem that is widely underreported in the outside world, there’s little question that number does not fully represent the scope of the problem. But one thing is clear: the sexual abuse of immigration detainees is not an isolated problem, limited to one rogue facility or merely the result of a handful of bad apple government contractors who staff some of the nation’s immigration detention centers. As our documents show and the map above depicts, while centers in Texas resulted in the largest number of allegations, sexual abuse allegations have come from nearly every state that houses an immigration detention center. The data crystallizes the urgent need for the government to admit just how pervasive a problem sexual abuse is in its immigration jails and to take immediate steps to ensure that all detainees are protected.

By scrolling over each state, you can see how many allegations from that state are shown in the documents and each of the individual facilities from which complaints have been received. Click on the state for more detailed information. For more information about the methodology used to arrive at the information above, and how allegations were counted, click here.